The train will have the latest facilities like Wi-Fi, CCTV camera, automatic closing doors and USB charging po...Read More

CHENNAI: Passengers bound for Madurai from Chennai will in a week be able to take a train around 6am and reach Madurai by 1pm, like a Shatabdi Express. In the return direction, they would be able to get back to Chennai by around 9pm. The travel will be in a swanky new TEJAS express, which will have latest facilities like infotainment, Wi-Fi, CCTV, automatic closing doors and USB charging ports. Southern Railway has planned to operate day-time express train with a TEJAS rake churned out from Integral Coach Factory (ICF) on Friday. The train will run at an average speed of 70kmph, a senior SR official told TOI. It would be run five days a week, the official said. This would reduce the journey time between the two cities from 8 hours taken by Vaigai Express and 9 hours taken by Pandian Express, down to around 7 hours. The fare would be 20% more than that of a Shatabdi Express, but the exact details have not been finalised, sources said. Two rakes have been churned out from ICF which will reach SR’s Villivakkam yard on Friday night. “We are hopeful of starting the service within a week,” the official said. Sources said that after the 497km line between Chennai Egmore and Madurai was doubled and electrified in March this year, the line capacity had reduced to around 70. This opened up opportunities for SR to operate more trains, especially during day-time. In October, during a press conference, the Chief Operations Manager (COM) S Anantharaman had indicated that a day-time super-fast train to Madurai from Egmore was on the anvil. A source said the railway board has not yet given sanction for the train, but it is expected soon. “Till then, it would be run as a special train,” the source said, stating that it would be regularised later.

The service would come as a boon to travellers who would finally get a Shatabdi-like service on the route. ICF general manager S Mani, while launching the train, said that since the travelling public in Tamil Nadu are more disciplined, there will be no instances of vandalisation in this train. There had been reports of earphones being stolen on the Mumbai-Goa Tejas Express in May last year.